Mary Patton Chapter
National Society Daughters of the American Revolution

Erwin, Tennessee

Welcome to the Mary Patton Chapter, NSDAR website! We are excited that you are interested in
learning more about our organization. We are the newest
chapter in Tennessee!

Membership in the Daughters
of the American Revolution (DAR) honors
your Patriot ancestor and preserves your Patriot's legacy. As a member of
DAR and through your participation in the Society's programs and activities,
you too can continue the legacy of those who dreamed of the country we
all celebrate today. I invite you to visit the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution website for
information on becoming a member.

You are welcome to visit our chapter! We meet
at 2:00 pm on the second Wednesday of the month. Please email us and let us know of your
interest.

Reasons for Joining DAR

Incorporated by an Act of Congress in 1896, the NSDAR is a non-profit, non-political, volunteer service organization with nearly 180,000 women in some 3,000 chapters across the United States and in nine foreign countries. The Society was founded in Washington, DC, on October 11, 1890, and has celebrated
almost 120 years of service to the nation.

Do you have a love for education, for patriotism, or for historical preservation?

Does American History fascinate you?

Do you like to volunteer?

Do you want to be involved with service organizations and the community?

Do you enjoy programs and speakers?

Do you love to socialize and meet new people?

If you answered "yes" to some of the questions listed above,
we invite you to pursue membership in the DAR. For more
information on membership, please visit the
NSDAR membership requirements web page.

Chapter Name -
Its History & Significance

Mary McKeehan
Patton

(1751 - 1836)

Gunpowder
Maker

Mary Patton was an early settler who came to the area presently
in Carter County with her husband, John. She had learned how to
make gun powder as an apprentice in England. When Nathaniel
Taylor, who had married Mary's cousin, settled in Carter County,
he built a powder mill. Here Mary Patton worked making gun
powder.

The Overmountain Men are justly famed for
their rugged strength in
marching and their unrelenting courage in fighting and winning
the critical battle of King's Mountain. Yet, without the skill
of a woman, their task could never have been completed. On
September 24,1780, when the men departed to fight the British at
the Battle of King's Mountain, it was Mary who furnished
the vital 500 pounds of gunpowder from her mill. The men
planned a surprise attack on the British to prevent the British
from coming across the mountains and raiding Watauga and the
other settlements. The mountain men defeated the British at
King's Mountain and returned to Watauga to protect their homes
and families from the British and the Indians.

She continued
to make powder for many years, furnishing the necessity to folks
living as far away as South Carolina. Although Mary
Patton gave the expedition to King's Mountain the powder, she
normally sold it in the East for one dollar a pound at a time
when land sold for from 50 cents to a dollar an acre. At the
time of her death, she owned 3000 acres of land.

When Mary Patton died on December 15, 1836,
she was buried on a hillside overlooking the beautiful hills
where she had lived for 60 years. The Patton-Simmons Cemetery
holds her remains, which lie under a large memorial stone
erected by her descendants. The epitaph says: "One of that
heroic band who established a civilization in the wilderness.
She made the powder used by John Sevier's troops in the Battle
of King's Mountain."

Web hyperlinks
to non-DAR sites are not the responsibility of the NSDAR, the state
organizations, or individual DAR chapters.